Concert Featuring Music by Rohana Weerasinghe

'Susara Gee Rawe, Rohana Ransara Geethavaliya,' a musical evening organised to mark 35 years of music composing career of Rohana Weerasinghe, the true Sri Lankan music legend who has made a name, locally and internationally, will be staged on November 4 at 6.30 p.m. at the National Youth Council Auditorium, Maharagama.

The top most artistes Sunil Edirisinghe, Edward Jayakody, Deepika Priyadharshani and Charitha Priyadharshani Peiris will also perform at this musical evening. This would bring wide range of top songs composed by Rohana Weerasinghe.

(Via Daily News)

How to Save a Wet Cell Phone

I wish I had read this before I was flung into a swimming pool with my brand new mobile phone tucked in my pocket......would have saved me 50k....

Chasing Seagulls

Investigations into the Seagull saga have revealed the firm held accounts in at least two commercial banks and approximately 113 million rupees have passed through the bank accounts discovered so far.

Victims of the scam have formed an association and have posted a picture of a man who called himself Raj Kumar on their website and are offering a reward for his capture (bounty hunter alert!).

Bye-bye Polythene

Finally, the government has decided to ban the use of polythene from January 1, 2007.

By far one of the better decisions made by the GOSL, I salute those who have undertaken the task of implementing and monitoring the ban.

Reviews by Readers at Amazon.com

I found the following review of Orwell's classic "1984" quite amusing...:

"Caitlyn from Atlanta, GA, wrote: "1984 is the worst book I have ever read. I would advise anyone who is thinking about reading this book to reconcider! George Orwell is not a bad writer, however, this book he does not do evry well on, as some of his others. Prehaps he was getting old and lost his touch. Animal Farm was okay, but 1984 was horrible. It took him forever, it seemed like, to get into the accual book. If someone were to take out all of the useless part of 1984, it would be half as long. Why would he wirte so much about nothing? I havent ever meet someone who could wirte such a boring book about the goverment. I have meet many people who have loved this book, but i dispised it. I am not at all intrested in the goverment. This may be part of the reason that I didnt like it. I would advise you not to read this book."  (via Boing Boing)

...until I read the last entry posted at Amazon World:

"Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

This book was as intellectually stimulating as watching a blind goat rape a treestump. I've never been as horrified in my life as I was by this terrible, terrible disgrace upon writing . I have to wonder where people come up with some of these images. "

Sadly Amazon World has not been updated in awhile.

LTTE Cadres To Provided With Overseas Jobs

"They will be found jobs here or abroad, depending on their choice, after they undergo rehabilitation,' government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said."

Well, that's one way of getting rid of them........

Bid2Win - on Derana TV

Watch Derana at 8.30pm daily - please do. There's a new program called Bid2Win featuring a young chap yelling at the top of his voice calling for bids on items like Nokia mobile phones and computers. So far I have not been tempted to text in my two cents ;) but good luck to anyone who tries their luck!

By the way - Derana's website is quite weird. You need to register to get information on its programs and the registration form includes NIC/Date of birth and Telephone as *required fields*!! Seriously, what the **** is that about?! This is the first time I have ever come across a website of a TV channel that imposes such restrictions on people who want to know about its program schedule!! CW has a nice site - Derana should follow suit!

Soon To Be Launched Airline - Mihin Lanka

"The government is planning to launch a budget airline in the coming months to reduce dependence on the Emirates-managed SriLankan Airlines, according to a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) source'but the take off might run into a storm.

The airline is to be named Mihin Lanka - or Mihindu Airlines, The Sunday Times learns. "

A State funded airline named either Mihin or Mihindu.....why does that sound so familiar..............

Oh wait...here's a much needed clarification:

"..one of the proposed names Mihin or Mihindu, was the Sanskrit version of Mahinda.."

That certainly clears things up for me....

Read the full story

Borat (Conan O'Brien Show)

I Am Mine - Pearl Jam (David Letterman Show)

Dilbert Creator Regains Voice Thanks to Nursery Rhyme

This is the most unusual yet uplifting story I have read in awhile.

Download the First Three Episodes of LOST - Season 3

I found a wonderful blog which provides MegaUpload/DepositFiles/TryOr/Badongo links for LOST Season 3 episodes:

LOST 3x01 - A Tale of Two Cities

LOST 3x02 - The Glass Ballerina

LOST 3x03 - Further Instructions

What the **** is a Ponzi?

I was wondering the same thing as I read a post at LBO about a pyramid scheme that operated under the guise of a BPO...later on the article offered an explanation:

"A Ponzi is a variation of a pyramid scam where the people who joined first is rewarded with the money taken from those who join later.

They are named after Charles Ponzi an Italian immigrant in the United States who offered high returns for investing in a business which in traded postal coupons.

Sri Lanka's central bank recently disbanded a special investigation unit that was investigating financial scams under controversial circumstances."

The alleged masterminds (two Indian nationals) behind the operation have now fled the country, along with millions of rupees.

Some people never learn, do they?!

UPDATE 10/30 - Police want international help to catch the Ponzi's

Sirasa Super Star - Season 2

Hmmmmm - Sirasa now has a website - finally.


No sign of a message board yet, but once SSS S2 begins, I hope one is set up.

Publishing links and content in Sinhalese is a nice touch.

Flags of Our Fathers - Movie Trailer

Must-see movie No. 2

The Prestige - Movie Trailer

Must-see movie No. 1

Southpark 10x07

SL Cricket Team Crumbles

Yesterday's match against South Africa was unbelievable. Mainly because we lost. And quite badly. The top order seemed to be in a mighty hurry to get back inside the dressing room. The only bright spot for the SL team was Chaminda Vaas - who bowled an outstanding spell (10-3-16-2) and managed to hang on to his bat as well.

UPDATE 10/26 - Mahela gets real but SL is still out the the championship.

New Traffic Plan From Today

Looks like driving around Colombo just got easier. According to the permanent traffic plan, the following roads have been made one way:

1) R A de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road) ' To enter Colombo from Buller`s Road Junction to Liberty round-about.
2) Thurstan Road ' To enter Colombo from Reid Thurstan Junction to J O C round-about.
3) Cambridge Place ' To enter Colombo from J O C round-about to National Museum on Marcus Fernando Mawatha.
4) Independence Road ' To exit Colombo from Nanda Motors Junction to Public Administrative Junction.
5) Maitland Place ' To enter Colombo from Public Administration Junction to Maitland Crescent.
6) Maitland Crescent ' To exit Colombo from Horton Place to Independence round-about.
7) Reid Avenue ' To exit Colombo from Independence round-about to Reid Thurstan Junction.
8) Rajakeeya Mawatha ' To enter Colombo from Reid Rajakeeya Junction J O C round-about.
9) Gilford Crescent ' To exit Colombo from Cambridge Junction to Reid Avenue.
10) Ananda Kumaraswami Mawatha ' To exit Colombo from Liberty round-about to Library round-about.
11) Dharmapala Mawatha ' To enter Colombo from Red Cross Junction to Liberty round-about.
12) Marks Fernando Mawatha ' To enter Colombo from Glass House Junction Library round-about.

Read the complete article at Lanka Newspapers

UPDATE 10/26 : New Traffic Plan Postponed Indefinitely

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is quite convinced there is no God:

"Not only is the god hypothesis unnecessary. It is spectacularly unparsimonious. Not only do we need no God to explain the universe and life. God stands out in the universe as the most glaring of all superfluous sore thumbs. We cannot, of course, disprove God, just as we can't disprove Thor, fairies, leprechauns and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But, like those other fantasies that we can't disprove, we can say that God is very very improbable."

Also read: Boing Boing

Creative Commercials

Neil Patel has compiled a list of outstanding commercials, including my personal favorite Folgers. (iPod is a close second!)

Firefox 2

Firefox 2 is finally out - officially. It has a few improvements (I used version 1.5.0.7 last) including inline spell checking, live titles and improved tabbed browsing.

Borat

Would you watch a movie with a title like "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"? How can I possibly resist?!

Starring Sacha Baron Cohen aka AliG as a politically incorrect TV presenter travelling to the US, it includes many interviews with unsuspecting Americans.

"Borat is an equal opportunity offender that doesn't insult your intelligence." - BOXFOFFICE Magazine

Watch the first few minutes of the movie:



Added on 11/03:

Import of Non-Essential Items Restricted

The import of the following goods (44 items in total) have been restricted in order to control excessive credit growth:

Palm Oil
Chocolates
Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakers' wares
Beer
Wine, vermouth and other fermented beverages

Spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages
Perfumes and toilet waters
Beauty or make up preparations (lip, eye, manicure, pedicure etc)
Preparations for use on hair
Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations, personal deodorants and anti-perspirants,

Perfumed bath salts and other bath preparations,

Preparations for perfuming or deodorising rooms

Soap and organic surface-active products
Tableware, kitchenware, other household articles and toilet articles of plastics
Articles of apparel of knitted or crocheted
Footwear
Artificial flowers

Walltiles, floortiles and the like
Tableware, kitchenware, other household articles and toilet articles of ceramic, porcelain or china
Statuettes and other ornamental ceramic articles
Glassware of a kind used for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar purposes
Imitation jewellery

Tableware, kitchenware, other household articles of stainless steel
Locks and padlocks
Fans
Air conditioners
Refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating and freezing equipment

Dish washing machines
Household and laundry type washing machines
Electro-mechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor (eg: vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, food grinders, mixers, blenders etc)
Shavers, hair clippers and hair-removing appliances with self contained electric motor
Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters

Hair dryers and other hair-dressing apparatus
Electric smoothing irons
Microwave ovens
Other ovens and cookers
Coffee or tea makers

Toasters
Video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner
Television
Antennas
Filament bulbs and energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps and other lamps
Wrist watches and clocks
Lamps and light fittings
Toys

(Source: Central Bank of Sri Lanka)

There's going to be a reduction in the availability of deodorant and after-shave??!! WHAT??!! I don't get these people - the above items are taboo but importing twenty vehicles with V8 engines is fine??

Read more at LBO

UPDATE 10/24 - Excellent post by Rohan Samarajiva on the import restrictions at LBO

Scientists Create Cloak of Invisibility

In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder.

It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.

"We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.

For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.

(Photo: Reuters)

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

This is one hell of a long list - and I'm quite bummed to note I have read only around 10% of what's on it. But I am still young and have an early retirement planned, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest (at least 50%). The list doesn't include many Asian, Australian, European and South American authors though, and neither Mystic River nor L.A.Confidential made it on the list. Hmmmm....

Sea Frogs

Oct 18, 2006 (AFP) - A seaborne attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on the Sri Lankan port town of Galle on Wednesday has highlighted the guerrillas' lethal "Sea Tiger" arm, whose suicide wing claims to have inspired Al-Qaeda.

Suspected rebel suicide bombers using at least five boats infiltrated Galle's harbour and attacked a key naval base, detonating powerful explosions that killed at least two people and injured 20, officials and the police said.

The Sea Tigers are supposedly restricted from venturing out to sea under a ceasefire agreed in 2002 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government.

But the warring parties have fought deadly naval battles in recent months during an upsurge in violence that has left the truce in tatters, cost more than 2,300 lives, and now threatens peace talks planned for later this month.

The attackers who infiltrated Galle were disguised as fishermen, Sri Lanka's defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told AFP, adding, "obviously they have come to Galle on a suicide mission".

Authorities later imposed a curfew on the town, whose idyllic beaches had regained some of their popularity with foreign tourists after Galle was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The rebels' secretive and lethal "navy" is a rarity among the world's guerrilla forces, few of which have a seaborne division.

Read more at LBO

Colour Like No Other

"Our latest TV ad - featuring massive paint explosions - took 10 days and 250 people to film. Huge quantities of paint were needed to accomplish this, which had to be delivered in 1 tonne trucks and mixed on-site by 20 people."

Like the world needs yet another colorful ad - but it's pretty high on the *wow* factor, so watch it anyway.

How to Hide Files in JPGs

I don't see myself doing this anytime soon but the way it's done is pretty cool. It also works on .gif and .zip files.

Dove Evolution

A very short clip that shows what a model looks like before and after she appears on a billboard.